Memorable Quotes on Writing, from the Pros

You’ve heard what 4Mothers has to say about our writing practices… here is what some slightly (ahem) better known writers have to say about it.  Thanks for joining us this week – have a great weekend!

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When I’m working on a book, I constantly retype my own sentences. Every day I go back to page one and just retype what I have. It gets me into a rhythm. . . . At the end of the day, I mark up the pages I’ve done–pages or page–all the way back to page one. I mark them up so that I can retype them in the morning. It gets me past that blank terror.

Joan Didion

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I’m not sure I understand the process of writing. There is, I’m sure, something strange about imaginative concentration. The brain slowly begins to function in a different way, to make mysterious connections. Say, it is Monday, and you write a very bad draft, but if you keep trying, on Friday, words, phrases, appear almost unexpectedly. I don’t know why you can’t do it on Monday, or why I can’t. I’m the same person, no smarter, I have nothing more at hand.

Elizabeth Hardwick

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The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

Philip Roth

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I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress.

Jane Austen

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I’m writing a book.  I’ve got the page numbers done.

Steven Wright

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Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.

Barbara Kingsolver

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